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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Read Along of Left From Dhakeshwari by Kunal Sen - Post 1

A very warm welcome to all of you to the Read Along and Discussion session of the book "Left From Dhakeshwari' by Kunal Sen. When I read the first few pages of this book I was sure I had in my hands a masterpiece and the author will surely one day reach the pinnacle of success in literature world wide.

With the hope of letting more people know about this book, to make sure it reaches the audience it deserves and The Readers Cosmos's aim to propagate quality Indian literature, I approached Sarika & Janhvi (The Readdicts) & Ankita Singhal. They were kind to show interest and invest their precious time for a Read Along of this book. Fahima M. a very active blogger and reader followed our tweets and I am very glad she too joined.

This amazing poster by Ankita shows the schedule of the Read Along.

About the book:

Left from Dhakeshwari is a collection of interconnected short stories
set in the Bengali milieu that deal with the themes of memories and
homelessness.

In the story We Were Writers, we meet a Bengali film actress, who
after her brother’s suicide, returns to her small hometown and reflects
upon the life she left behind; in Bomb Church, Aniruddha tries to piece
together his mother’s identity after her mysterious departure, with the
only clues available in the existential whodunit being: a soap-box, a
brown shoe and the statements of five witnesses; Salt Lake recounts the
unusual love story of a disfigured girl; in Alexandra’s Stalker, a man
obsesses over a woman for decades.

With an underlying tone of seductive melancholy, the book brings to
life some tragic people and tells the tales of their failings and
depths.

About The Author

Kunal Sen (b. 1984) is an Indian writer in the English language. His first book, Left from Dhakeshwari, a collection of short stories, was published in 2012. His poetry has appeared in the anthology Ah! Poetry.

Kunal Sen’s forty-minute short, Cranberry Sauce, was screened by
Entertainment Society of Goa at IFFI (International Film Festival of
India) 2009 where it won the national nomination for best short film.

He lives in Goa and is working on his second book.

At the time of writing, Left from Dhakeshwari is in the running for the Economist Crossword Book Award, 2013.

Myself :I
am Nimi Vashi, blogger and founder The Readers Cosmos. If you enjoy our
activities, want to be a part of Read Along please drop an email to
thereaderscosmos@gmail.com.Ankita Singhal: She is a versatile personality. A voracious reader, a good reviewer (do visit her blog http://booklokcoffee.blogspot.in/),
a writer too with her short story Lovelets got published recently. The
list still doesnt end she is the creater of this eye cathing banner you
saw at the beginning and all over facebook] and twitter. Above all she
is a friend you can run to anytime for everything.Janhvi Jagtap &Sarika Patkovar: I love to call them The Readaddicts - their blog I am sure you have already bookmarked http://thereaddicts.blogspot.in/.
They are voracious readers and some day can create an encyclopaedia of
reviews. Above
all they are genuine and helpful and my guiding torch towards
innovative experiments such as Read Along....

Fahima M: A voracious reader, a great reviewer and a an active blogger. Check out her blog http://me24x7.blogspot.in. I personally look forward to her reviews. She is pro active and gets interested and enthusiastic about all activities surrounding books. Happy to have her in Read Along Gang.

For Interested Readers:

There was a time, I didn't like reading Indian Authors a lot. I had almost decided that the quality of writing had gone down (with a few exceptions ofcourse). At that very moment I got a few books, one of them was Left from Dhakeshwari, and a few pages in to the book my opinion changed forever. Though I have picked Kunal's brain a lot on this and trends of writing in India, after that also (can't help being myself).

This book is a collection of Nine short stories. Its not a light read and would make you think a lot. Many are open ended and left to the readers imagination. So any of you who is reading it the first time let it sink in, absorb it, think it and move ahead. Some stories are interconnected. All in all its a feast for the reader who loves to reflect, relish, go slow and imagine. Happy Reading!

Bloggers and Readers who want to support us and have loved this book please do put this button on your blog's side bar and leave a comment below. Those who do not have a blog and wish to support us share this image on facebook/twitter and tag Kunal (his contact information above).

We all learn from our from interactions with fellow readers by gaining different perspectives and discussing important issues. I am hoping for a fun read and rigorous
discussion session with all of you. If you are reading this post please
do comment, your presence on this page is highly valued, and your
participation all the more.

4 comments:

I read your post when you linked it up to us on Twitter, Nimi and it's great (as always). And thank you again for your kind words! It's always fun chatting and reading with you guys and we hope to have many more buddy reads in the time to come.